Singapore legislation
Section 31
Section 31
Rights of third parties to continue use of registered designs
(1)
A person who, before the date of registration of a design —
does in good faith in Singapore an act which would have constituted an infringement of the design if the registration had been in force at the time the act is done; or
makes in good faith effective and serious preparations to do such an act in Singapore,has the right to continue to do the act or (as the case may be) to do the act.
(2)
If the act was done, or the preparations were made, in the course of a business, the person entitled to the right conferred by subsection (1) may —
authorise the doing of that act by any of the person’s partners for the time being in that business; and
assign that right, or transmit it on death (or in the case of a body corporate on its dissolution), to any person who acquires that part of the business in the course of which the act was done or the preparations were made.
(3)
The right conferred by subsection (2) does not include a right to grant a licence to any person to do an act referred to in subsection (1).
(4)
Where an article, a non‑physical product, or a device for projecting a non‑physical product, is disposed of to another person in exercise of a right conferred by subsection (1), that other person, and any person claiming through that other person, may deal with the article, non‑physical product or device in the same way as if the article, non‑physical product or device had been disposed of by the owner of the design concerned.